America Starts Here

First, let me apologize for not posting last week after you received an email saying I would. Second I want to apologise to those of you that have heard my 3 stories.  This is I think, the story I've told to almost everyone I know.  Perhaps you've heard this more than once.  If you haven't already clicked away, there will be a new food related spin to the story.

We moved from New York to the Midwest, Detroit, 20 years ago.  While having lunch with coworkers we got to talking about how things were different between New York and the Midwest. I was telling how in New York we have delis, not "party stores".  And how when you go to a deli the guy there makes you your sandwich fresh.  You don't go to the cooler to pick out a sandwich that was made at a plant across town and shipped to the store in triangular shaped plastic boxes.  And when you go to the deli department at the market, the guy cuts your meats and cheeses to order.  They don't have a tray with 5-pounds of turkey already sliced.  And in New York you...

Just then Lori said "WELL HERE IN AMERICA WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY".  I told Lori I didn't know New York wasn't part of America.  She seemed embarrassed for about a second or two, but then composed herself and insisted that I get used to being an American.

A few weeks later Merri and I (at that time sans kids) drove back to New York for the Holidays to visit the family.  On the way back from New York, after driving through New Jersey, we came upon a sign just like this one:

WELCOME TO PENNSYLVANIA * AMERICA STARTS HERE *

Lori was very happy to hear that New York and New Jersey were not part of America. (Note:Detroit for it's crappy delis, had a considerable number of REALLY GREAT ethnic restaurants of all kinds: Italian, Mexican, Thai, Indian, Korean, etc., etc.)

Back to the beginning: Presliced Cold Cuts.

Increase The Surface Area, Increase The Aging.

About a hundred years ago I was the "Cold Cook" at the North Shore Country Club, on Long Island. I was responsible for salads and sandwiches, cold appetizers and some prep for the hot side. All of our salad dressings were homemade; no bottled dressings. Once in a while, I'd even have to make a gallon of mayo if we ran out.

We used a "crumbled" bleu cheese to make our bleu cheese dressing. It came in a 2 or 3 pound bag. On one occasion, either due to order error, or due to being shorted by our supplier, we ran out of crumbled bleu cheese. To make the dressing that day I pulled a 5 pound piece of bleu cheese out of the walk-in and cut half of it into 1/4" to 1/2" cubes.Every customer that ordered bleu cheese on their salads that night raved! The dressing was already better than anything you could buy in a bottle, but this batch was "outstanding".

The difference: "freshness". The surface of many foods like beef, fish, and cheese, degrade due to exposure to air, or light, or both. With a large cut meat, a whole fish, or a block of cheese, the ratio of surface area to total volume is very small. A cubic foot of cheese has 6 square feet of surface area (6:1). If I cut that cubic foot of cheese into cubic inches I increase my surface area to 72 square feet (72:1). If I cut it into 1/2" cubes, my surface area climbs to 144 square feet.So my crumbled bleu cheese had many times the surface area being exposed to light and to some degree, air, for perhaps a week or two, between the time is was crumbled and bagged at the cheese plant, and when the club members ate their salads.

So did we change our recipe to include only block bleu cheese? No.

You might now ask, "So Bill, why are you telling me this story?

Cutting that bleu cheese into little bitty cubes was very tedious and time consuming. The more I worked with the cheese, the softer it got, which made it more difficult to cut. Our bleu cheese dressing was already great, so the increased value of the "fantastic" dressing was not enough to rationalize the change. I still had to make other dressings, cut veggies, devein shrimp, shuck oysters, etc., etc. But what I learned from this experience is that when there is a holiday, a birthday, an anniversary, or any occasion that might include special guests, sometimes it's worth going the extra mile. If you're putting candles on the table, go buy a small block of Parmesan from the cheese department at your market, and grate it over your guests plate.

Buy and cook whole fish. Buy the whole beef tenderloin and cut it into fillets just before cooking. For my own dinner on Tuesday night, give me the preshucked oysters in the tub. For a special dinner with the boss, it's the oysters in the shells, shipped 24 hours from Nantucket to my fish man.
I know I still have that recipe for bleu cheese dressing somewhere. If I can find it, I'll post it here. And if you want to use crumbled bleu cheese, go ahead; it's still great. But if your not making 2 gallons of dressing, an extra 5 minutes and you'll have a dressing "to die for".

Bill
Head Dishwasher

Ten Pounds In Ten Days

I have three stories. Okay, maybe four. So I tell the same stories over and over again. Those of you that have heard this, I apologize. Just click away.

When I was growing up my mom would cook just the right amount of food. I have two brothers, two sisters, mom and dad makes seven. So my mom would cook seven pieces of chicken, seven baked potatoes, and seventy green beans. You get the idea. Dinner was served. We ate it. It was gone. Left on the stove: empty pots.

Shortly after I met Merri, way back in Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Something, she invited me over for dinner. On the dinner table were serving bowls. In my house serving bowls were for Thanksgiving. It was sort of like a restaurant in my house. Your plate came from the kitchen with the food on it. And then it was gone. I don't remember exactly what was on Merri's table, but it was a lot of food. A lot of really great food. My mom cooked one meat (fish/poultry), one potato, one veggie. And sometimes they were all mixed up in one bowl. Remember the dreaded casserole? Merri's grandmother Mary, cooked at least one meat. Sometimes though it might be a main dish of chicken, and maybe some meatballs & sausage in another bowl. Then potatoes of some kind, and maybe two or three different veggies. And then of course a nice krispy Italian bread and butter. Or you'd just dip the bread in the gravy (tomato sauce). I'm probably missing something. The point is, there was always plenty of food.

Mary told me that she was taught, growing up, that for an Italian wife it was a disgrace to run out of food. Not just food in general, but anything in particular: the bread, the chicken, the potatoes. You couldn't run out of anything. This is the reason behind the large quantities of food.

Okay, no problem, at least you know what's for lunch tomorrow. The problem was that the food was sooo goood. Even if my mom had cooked more food, and served it in serving bowls, and there were seconds, it wouldn't have been a problem. The food was okay, but it wasn't great. Mary's food on the other hand was to die for. Some how these serving bowls kept getting passed to me, and food kept getting put on my plate, and I kept on eating it. I couldn't stop myself. Mary would say, "Billy don't you want another sausage? There you go. Take two. You need energy."
"Thanks Mary. Maybe I'll have a little more asparagus too."

I gained ten pounds in ten days when I met Merri. I've also gained another two or three since then...a year.

Mary's gone now, God bless her soul. Mary's food however is still pretty much here. Maybe some of the dishes have a little less oil. Maybe the veggies are cooked two or three minute less. But the flavor's still here.

My wife has a few different meals that I can't stop eating. Most contain some type of pasta. Sausage and meatballs could also be included. In the fall she'll make this pork dinner, two or three times. Usually on a Sunday. Pork, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, gravy (not tomato sauce), etc. When my wife makes these meals I have a really hard time stopping. Merri is not as supportive of my eating habits as Mary was, though. She usually discourages me from taking seconds. She's really not happy if I take thirds. If it's one of my really favorite meals, I might even eat off of my daughters plate when she's not looking (I feel like Dom DeLuise).

Later, after I help clean the dishes, I'll lay down on the couch and wonder if my stomach might actually explode this time.

Bill
Head Dishwasher

A Note From The Head Dishwasher/Sr. Web Lacky

Hi All,

I am Cucina Ziccardi's Head Dishwasher, slash Sr. Web Lackey. I help Chef Merri with the cleaning of the pots and pans, the emails, and the weblog. Last week Chef Merri instructed me to send out an email to everyone with regard to her adding an additional day to the Cucina Ziccardi Dinner Service. I went ahead and sent out emails without the approval of Chef Merri. This was a very bad move.

Some of you may have noticed that I don't know how to spell "Patience". I wrote in the email: Those of you that asked for service on Tuesday or Wednesday, have "patients"; we'll get there. Chef Merri was also not happy with my grammar. The only excuse I have is that it was late and I was tired.

If this happens again I may get a reduction in salary. Since I get paid with Meatballs in Sunday Gravy, this would be a tragedy. I apologize to you and Chef Merri for this unfortunate happenstance. I will work hard to make sure it never happens again.

Those of you who are doctors and nurses and have patients, and those of you that aren't, but have had patience, I'm happy to announce Chef Merri is adding Wednesday to the Cucuina Ziccardi Dinner Service. Use the links at the right side of this page for menu items and ordering instructions.

Once again, I'm sorry for the poor spelling and grammar. Thank you for ordering from Cucina Ziccardi. The more you order, the greater the potential for extra meatballs for the dishwasher.

Bill Shearer
Head Dishwasher
Sr. Web Lackey
cucinaziccardi@gmail.com